Le Photo-Revolver by E. Krauss of Paris, 1921 – photo by Bob Lansdale
Toronto. Bob Lansdale wanted to add more balance to the journal with some ‘camera’ related articles. He was delighted to learn of the massive and exotic collection held by the late Bill (father) and late John (son) down in the Port (Port Colborne). Both were on the executive of the PHSC at different times; Bill as president and later John as 1st VP and auction assistant.
The first camera chosen was the tiny 1921 Photo-Revolver by Krauss of Paris, France. Krause was one of the contractors for Zeiss lenses (I have a Krause Tessar for movie cameras).
The Kantymirs started their story like this, ‘Cameras which fire a bullet are in reality quite rare, except in the minds of fiction writers.
‘Uncommon, but existing in reality, are cameras which take on the appearance of a revolver or rifle but do not fire a bullet. Thomas Skaifes, inventor of the Pistolgraph, ca. 1858, when asked why he called his camera that name, replied that it was “in size and shape, not unlike a pistol – was held in the hand, and manipulated by means of a trigger like a pistol – one being constructed to take life, the other likenesses.”’
The photo and beginning text were extracted from issue 32-4 of the journal, printed in Mar/April of 2007. More recent members received a DVD which included the PDF version of 32-4 plus many other issues published before and after 32-4. No DVD? Not a member? Well, go to the righthand sidebar of this page; choose a one or three year membership; and pay with your PayPal account (blue bar) or by debit/credit card (black bar). You will receive your very own DVD in the mail, then you can read the rest of this article and many other articles of special interest to collectors of photographica – cameras, photos, history.
